Mobile contacts (Android) doesn't sync with Outlook.com Contacts

I think I may have cracked it issue, after restoring my phone to factory settings (I think that was unnecessary, but possibly cleared up lots of redundant apps).  In Outlook for Android, go to settings, and tap on the 'offending' mail account.  Then allow it to sync contacts.

This is a widespread issue. It appears that 365 was not designed to work and sync our contacts with our mobile Outlook and contact apps. I request that Microsoft soon update the programs so this feature works again like it used to on the old Exchange we had.

I had the same issue. Note 10+ Android Contacts & Calendar Aps wouldn't sync with Outlook Contacts and Calendar Ap. After installing and uninstalling Office 365 Accounts multiple times in the Android settings, which gave me weird error stating that my IT department had shut off my account, or something like that, I deleted the account in Android settings.

I opened Outlook, tapped on the Office Icon at the top left which opened the menu.

I then tapped the settings icon, then tapped the offending mail account name, and turned on Sync Contacts, and Sync Calendars, which were previously turned off.

I then reset the account, which closed and then reopened the Outlook Ap

I then opened my Android Contacts Ap, and voila, the contacts were there!

I went back to Outlook settings for my offending mail account as per above instructions, and noticed the Calendar Sync button was turned off.

I turned it back on, and when I went to the Android Calendar Ap and it prompted me to Sync the Calendar, which I did, and it synced.

That took care of an initial syncing of calendar and contacts.

I added a contact to Outlook on my PC. It nearly immediately showed up on the phone. However it did not immediately show up in the Android Contacts.

So in the Android Contacts I went to Settings>Manage Contacts>Sync Contacts>Sync.

Eventually it did sync.

I will update my findings as I see how it works over the next few days.

OK, got the PC and phone to synch contacts.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

1. Open Outlook on the phone.
2. Select the circle at the top left of the Outlook screen for your Outlook account(s). I have 6 accounts, so I had to first select the account I use to manage my calendar and contacts and then exit back to the main Outlook page so I could select the circle to access my account parameters.
3. Select Settings, the gear at the bottom left of the Outlook screen
4. Select your account
5. Turn "Synch Contacts" ON
6. Turn "Synch Calendars" ON

Exit back to your main Outlook screen.

Open the Phone's Contacts App

1. Select the 3 horizontal lines for the Contacts app menu.
2. Select "Manage Contacts"
3. Select "Synch Contacts"
4. Your Microsoft account should now appear in this screen.
5. At the bottom of the screen, select "Synch"

You should now be able to synch your PC Outlook, Online Outlook, and phone Outlook contacts as well as your calendar and email.

Mick

I had the same problem with a Samsung Galaxy S20FE and was thinking it was a problem with Android not allowing me to sync to Outlook. However, the solution is exactly as you described and that is to turn on syncing of calendar and contacts in Outlook. This setting is kind of buried in that you have to select the email account and then go to settings and only then do you see the settings which for some reason are off by default. It's a shame Microsoft buried the settings as it has caused a lot of people a lot of frustration and I bet some abandoned Outlook because of it. Thank you for sharing your discovery, as soon as I checked the setting to sync it began immediately. Top Man and well done, maybe Microsoft should hire you?